Architecture Wednesday: Swyllmers Barn

Goddess I love a barn conversion, even one as large as this one, at over 4,600 square feet with five-bedrooms … I sense B&B.

Nestled in a peaceful pocket of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in The Lee Conservation Area, this large home is a series of spacious living spaces that have been thoughtfully carved out, with a glass atrium at its core.

Set just off a quiet country road, Swyllmers Barn is almost totally surrounded by mature broad-leaf trees and foliage. Topped with an clay-tiled roof, the house is formed of red brick and black weatherboarding; come spring, the wisteria that climbs across its front aspect erupts with white and lilac blossom.

Accessed from the porch, the entrance hallway is the central node from which each of the living spaces branches out. To the right is the glass-framed, double-height atrium currently used as a sitting room that sets the tone for the strong relationship between indoors and out; three sets of French doors open to the garden, making the room a wonderful space to sit and observe the changing seasons.

The primary reception has a nest of exposed timber rafters above, a wood-burning stove, and windows that run along two sides of the room. On the opposite side of the home is an open-plan kitchen and dining room with a large lounge space, where a wide picture window captures views of the grounds.

Tucked to one side of the room is a small conservatory while a spacious games room-gym, home study with a fireplace and extensive built-in bookshelves, utility room, pantry and powder room make up the rest of the ground floor.

In the main entrance hall, two staircases—both with storage underneath—ascend to the home's separate first-floor wings. A bedroom between the two wings connects both sides of the first floor while internal windows along the landings and in three of the bedrooms peek down into the atrium below, bringing more light upstairs.

The principal bedroom has a brilliant en suite with both a walk-in shower and a bathtub while the four other bedrooms are similarly spacious and with garden outlooks; one has an en suite bathroom, while the other has a dressing room. A family bathroom, with walk-in shower and a bathtub, serves the remaining rooms.

The gardens serve a range of functions: wide lawns are perfect for a summertime picnic or games and terraced spots are ripe for dining set-up or just lounging. A formal garden has been meticulously cultivated over several years with alliums, foxglove and fragrant lavender growing within a perimeter marked by neat box hedging.

Adding to the generous internal plan is an outbuilding currently used as a studio, home office and storage space. On its roof are several succulents that thrive in the sunlight. Above the main garage is another large storage room.

Despite its secluded feel, Swyllmers Barn is within easy reach of Great Missenden Station, which runs regular services to London Marylebone in under 40 minutes.

As always click to emBIGGERate ...

The Spaces

Meme Dump

Just The Facts, Man; Barack Obama Was A Far Better President Than The Convicted Felon

After celebrating Barack Obama Day, we still have The Felon’s supporters saying that they suffered under Obama’s eight years, so let’s just take a stroll back in time …

The day Obama took office, the Dow closed at 7,949 points. Eight years later, the Dow had almost tripled.

General Motors and Chrysler were on the brink of bankruptcy, with Ford not far behind, and their failure, along with their supply chains, would have meant the loss of millions of jobs. Obama pushed through a controversial, $80 billion bailout to save the car industry. The U.S. car industry survived, started making money again, and the entire $80 billion was paid back, with interest.

While we remain vulnerable to lone-wolf attacks, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully executed a mass attack here since 9/11.

Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

He drew down the number of troops from 180,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan to just 15,000, and increased funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He launched a program called Opening Doors which, since 2010, has led to a 47 percent decline in the number of homeless veterans. He set a record 73 straight months of private-sector job growth.

Due to Obama’s regulatory policies, greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 12%, production of renewable energy more than doubled, and our dependence on foreign oil was cut in half.

He signed The Lilly Ledbetter Act, making it easier for women to sue employers for unequal pay.

His Omnibus Public Lands Management Act designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, creating thousands of miles of trails and protecting over 1,000 miles of rivers.

He reduced the federal deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016.

For all the inadequacies of the Affordable Care Act, we seem to have forgotten that, before the ACA, you could be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition and kids could not stay on their parents’ policies up to age 26.

Obama approved a $14.5 billion system to rebuild the levees in New Orleans.

All this, even as our own Mitch McConnell famously asserted that his singular mission would be to block anything President Obama tried to do.

While Obama failed on his campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, that prison’s population decreased from 242 to around 50.

He expanded funding for embryonic stem cell research, supporting groundbreaking advancement in areas like spinal injury treatment and cancer.

Credit card companies can no longer charge hidden fees or raise interest rates without advance notice.

Most years, Obama threw a 4th of July party for military families. He held babies, played games with children, served barbecue, and led the singing of “Happy Birthday” to his daughter Malia, who was born on July 4.

Welfare spending is down: for every 100 poor families, just 24 receive cash assistance, compared with 64 in 1996.

Obama comforted families and communities following more than a dozen mass shootings. After Sandy Hook, he said, “The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.”

Yet, he never took away anyone’s guns........

He sang Amazing Grace, spontaneously, at the altar.

He was the first president since Eisenhower to serve two terms without personal or political scandal.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

President Obama was not perfect, as no man and no president is, and you can certainly disagree with his political ideologies. But to say we suffered?

If that’s the argument, if this is how we suffered for 8 years under Barack Obama, I have one wish: may we be so fortunate as to suffer 8 more.

Teri Carter, Lexington Herald-Leader

The Funny Papers

Jon Ostrove, Pedro X Molina, Robert Unell, Jack Ohman, Nick Anderson, Adam Zyglis, Daniel Boris, Michael de Adder, Max Espinoza, Lalo Alcaraz, Clay Bennett, Dennis Goris, Michael Ramirez, Gary Huck,